Malden Rising Leaders, created on May 17, 2017, is a non-profit organization which develops the next generation of leaders to engage with their community. It teaches them education, life skills, character development, and youth leadership. This helps the young people of our community be organized for themselves and to help their families.
The organization empowers young adults so they can reach their full potential and become problem solvers for the unique challenges they face. That is why the seniors this year are qualified to Malden Public Service Leadership Scholarship to earn one thousand dollars.
Ted D. Louis-Jacques, president and founder of Malden Rising Leaders, says that he feels the most joy when he is educating people and their families and is passionate about education and equity. He advises students who want to become superintendents, CEOs, and company members and ensures that all students, despite circumstance, have equal opportunity.
A goal for Louis-Jacques is to create not just job seekers but creators. His team consists of experts in education, social services, and business. The organization wants to provide resources for students so that when they leave high school, “they can be ready” stated Louis-Jacques. The organization has met with city officials such as the City Council which participated in Back to School Night and met over 200 MHS students. Malden Rising Leaders is looking for people with different backgrounds to come and volunteer to help make “[it] stronger” said Louis-Jacques during his speech at the school committee meeting on October 2, 2017.
Other than Louis-Jacques, the Board of Directors for Malden Rising Leaders includes Vice President Kristy R. Magras, Treasurer Karl Denis, Secretary Amanda LaFauci, and a Board Member Samara Faustin.
Magras joined the organization because she was intrigued by Louis-Jacques presentation of the scholarship for seniors. She has always wanted to do a family scholarship, as her family is from Malden and she graduated from Malden and works as a guidance counselor in the district. She works with families who are dealing with housing disabilities. She says it is important to give back to the community, so she was really intrigued with the work Louis-Jacques was doing. The day that they had met and he was talking about his plan she said that it was exactly what she wants to do. After that they, had met often after to discuss plans on who they should have on the board of directors.
Louis-Jacques and Magras had to pick between 63 different people for the Board of Directors and ended up with picking three of them. After choosing, they had to create a website about what the Malden Rising Leaders is about. Then, they went to downtown Boston and the organization was created.
Denis said that the organization wants to help students on the next steps after high school, whether it is joining the military, or going off to college. They hope that these students come back and give to the community the same way the organization had done with them in any way (like teaching, being in the government, etc) to come back and pass on the torch.
The organization came together after they had presented the scholarships (Malden Public Service Leadership Scholarship). They have been giving it to graduating seniors for the past three years. Students from Malden High School who are going to college can qualify if they are going to pursue and education, public service, or non-profit development.
LaFauci joined the organization because she thought that it was a great opportunity to help out the students of Malden to help them help others. Denis was not born in Malden but came to Malden when he was five. He joined because he could see the potential in all the students and what they could accomplish in Malden. He sees a lot of potential in what the group is doing and what they can possibly achieve. He wanted to get into the ground floor and help steer it into the right direction to help out as much as he can. Faustin had joined because she likes to give back and enjoys working with the youth. She says that what Louis-Jacques was doing was a great thing and opportunity on what he was doing.
You can find the organization on Facebook at Malden Rising Leaders and at Maldenrisingleaders.org. You can also find them on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat at Maldenrisingleaders.
